Travels News
London’s High Court said on Wednesday it would take steps if necessary to serve papers on Britain’s Prince Andrew in a U.S. lawsuit brought by a woman who accuses him of sexually assaulting her two decades ago. The prince, Queen Elizabeth’s second son, is accused by Virginia Giuffre of assaulting her when she was 17, …
Read more “UK Court to Ensure Sexual Assault Papers Can Be Served on Prince Andrew”
Authors of theCluster Munition Monitor 2021report say great progress toward the elimination of these lethal weapons has been made since the Cluster Ban Treaty came into force in 2010.The Monitor finds there has been no new use of cluster munitions by any of the 110 states that has joined the treaty, nor by the 13 …
Read more “Report Points to Success in Global Campaign Against Cluster Bombs”
Dozens of Polish news outlets have expressed anger over a media ban at the border with Belarus, part of a state of emergency imposed by Warsaw following an influx of migrants. Thousands of migrants — mainly from the Middle East — have crossed or tried to cross the border from Belarus into the eastern EU …
The European Union is pledging to donate 200 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to low-income countries by mid-2022. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen made the pledge Wednesday in Strasbourg, France during her annual State of the European Union speech before the European Parliament. Von der Leyen said the 200 million doses the EU plans …
Read more “EU Pledges 200 Million Doses of COVID-19 Vaccines to Low-Income Nations”
U.S. warnings to Russian President Vladimir Putin over shielding cybercriminals holed up in Russia appear to have made little impact, according to top U.S. law enforcement and cyber officials. “There is no indication that the Russian government has taken action to crack down on ransomware actors that are operating in the permissive environment that they’ve created …
In a message of inclusion, Pope Francis is reaching out to the Roma people of Slovakia, where he has condemned Central Europe’s historic marginalization of communities including Jews.On his second day in Slovakia, the pope travelled to the town of Presov in the eastern part of the country where he celebrated mass in the Byzantine …
Read more “During Visit, Pope Reaches Out to Slovakia’s Roma”
A Russian court has fined Facebook, Twitter and Telegram, saying the companies failed to delete content that Russian internet regulator Roskomnadzor said violates Russian law. Facebook was fined about $288,000, while Twitter was fined about $69,000 and Telegram was hit with $124,00 in fines, according to the magistrate court in Moscow’s Taganskiy district. …
Read more “Russia Fines Social Media Giants for Not Deleting Banned Content”
Turkey is calling for collective international action to deal with the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. The call comes as Turkey, already hosting the largest number of refugees globally, warns it cannot take any more.Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, addressing a high-level United Nations meeting on Afghanistan Monday, warned that with millions of Afghans displaced and …
Read more “Turkey Resists Pressure to Take Afghan Refugees, Calls for Global Response”
When Germany’s long-standing chancellor, Angela Merkel, steps down following federal elections later this month, it will mark the end of an era, not only for Germany but also for the European Union.In power since 2005, the 67-year-old Merkel has been the third longest-serving chancellor in German history, beaten in the longevity stakes only by Otto …
The center-left bloc headed to a victory in Norway’s elections Monday as official projections pointed to the governing Conservatives losing power after a campaign dominated by climate change and the future of the country’s oil and gas exploration industry. With a projection based on a preliminary count of nearly 93% of the votes, the Labor Party …
Read more “Norway’s Center-left Heads to Victory in General Elections”
Britain’s chief medical officer (CMO), Professor Chris Whitty, recommended Monday that children between the ages of 12 and 15 be offered the COVID-19 vaccine, saying they would benefit from reduced disruption to their education. More than a week ago, Britain’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization, the panel that advises British health departments on immunization policies, …
Read more “Britain to Offer COVID-19 Vaccines to 12-to-15-year-Olds “
Four months ago, Germany’s Green Party was riding high in the opinion polls and at one point even overtook Angela Merkel’s storied Christian Democrats and its Bavarian affiliate, the Christian Social Union, to briefly become the country’s most popular party in Germany. As the country headed into the campaign for September 26th federal …
Firefighting crews in southern Spain are looking at the sky for much-needed rainfall expected on Monday and that they hope can help extinguish a major wildfire that has ravaged 7,700 hectares in five days and displaced around 2,600 people from their homes. Authorities are describing the blaze in Sierra Bermeja, a mountain range in the …
Read more “Crews in Southern Spain Face ‘Complex’ Wildfire for 5th Day “
Pope Francis called for Europe to show “solidarity” around the world during economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, speaking on a visit to Slovakia — one of the worst hit countries in Europe. On his first foreign trip since a colon operation in July, the 84-year-old Argentine pontiff called the pandemic “the great test of …
Read more “Pope Calls for Europe to Show Pandemic ‘Solidarity’”
Two French politicians kicked off their presidential campaigns Sunday, seeking to become France’s first female leader in next year’s spring election.The far-right National Rally party’s Marine Le Pen and Paris’ Socialist mayor, Anne Hidalgo, both launched their presidential platforms in widely expected moves. They join a burgeoning list of challengers to centrist President Emmanuel Macron. …
Read more “Two Women Join Race to Become France’s 1st Female President”
Poland’s top political leaders on Sunday attended the beatification of two revered figures of the Catholic Church — a cardinal who led the Polish church’s resistance to communism and a blind nun who devoted her life to helping others who couldn’t see.Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski and Mother Elzbieta Roza Czacka took a step toward sainthood at …
Read more “Polish Nun, Cardinal Who Defied Communism Are Beatified”
North Sea oil and gas have helped make Norway one of the wealthiest countries in the world. But as Norwegians head to the polls on Monday, fears about climate change have put the future of the industry at the top of the campaign agenda.The ruling Conservatives, led by Prime Minister Erna Solberg, and the opposition …
Read more “Oil-rich Norway Goes to Polls with Climate on the Agenda”
Britain’s Health Ministry announced Sunday that it would reverse its decision to require ‘vaccine passports’ for Britons entering nightclubs and bars.Health Minister Sajid Javid said Sunday that the idea, which faced pushback from conservative lawmakers, had been shelved but would be reconsidered if rates of COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, increased substantially.Britain is …
Read more “Britain Reverses Course on ‘Vaccine Passports’ for Nightclubs”
The human rights records of more than 40 countries will come under scrutiny by the 47-member United Nations Human Rights Council during its upcoming four-week session. The session promises to be extremely busy. Nearly 90 reports on a wide range of thematic issues will be presented. They include torture, enforced disappearances, the right to …
Read more “Country Violators to be Scrutinized by UN Human Rights Council “
The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported early Sunday that it has recorded 224.3 million global COVID-19 infections and 4.6 million global deaths. The center also said 5.7 billion vaccines have been administered. Britain is expected to announce this week its plans for inoculating 12- to 15-year-old youngsters in the battle against the coronavirus. …
Read more “Britain Expected to Announce Plans to Inoculate 12-to-15-Year-Olds “
Pope Francis arrived in Hungary early Sunday at the start of his first big international outing since undergoing intestinal surgery in July. He will celebrate a Mass and meet with Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose right-wing, anti-immigrant policies clash with Francis’ call for countries to welcome refugees.Francis’ arrival at Budapest airport opened his four-day trip …
Read more “Pope in Orban’s Hungary at Start of 4-Day Europe Trip”
Pope Francis arrives in Budapest on Sunday morning to celebrate a Mass, with eyes focused on his meeting with the anti-migration Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.The head of 1.3 billion Catholics will have a half-hour meeting with Orban — accompanied by Hungarian President Janos Ader — in Budapest’s grand Fine Arts Museum, in what could …
Read more “Pope Francis Meets Viktor Orban in Worldview Clash”
Pope Francis travels to Hungary and Slovakia Sunday on his first foreign trip since undergoing surgery in July. He will meet Hungarian officials during a very short visit to Budapest, and preside over the closing mass of a eucharistic congress. Francis then travels to Slovakia, where he is expected to visit three cities before returning …
Read more “Pope Travels to Hungary, Slovakia in First Post-surgery Trip”
Spain’s state television on Friday condemned a racist comment made by a guest sports commentator during the presentation of Real Madrid player Eduardo Camavinga. During Wednesday’s presentation of Camavinga, analyst Lorena González was heard off camera saying “this guy is blacker than his suit.” The 18-year-old Camavinga, a French player born in Angola, …
Read more “Spanish TV Apologizes for Racist Comment About Black Madrid Player”